


Love brightens even the most monstrous parts of ourselves

by Lutrosis



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst with a Happy Ending, Curses, F/M, Fairy Tale Curses, Fairy Tale Elements, Happy Ending, Love, Monster Kylo Ren, Monsters, Redemption, Soft Ben Solo, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29110110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lutrosis/pseuds/Lutrosis
Summary: No one knows since when the giant, black bear has lived in the forest near Theed. Many stories about the origin of Kylo Ren circulate in the small village. After Rey has run away from Jakku, and arrived in Theed she has heard them all of, but has never actually meet the creature. This changes when her and her friends get attacked by bandits on their way back from Otoh Gunga.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 11
Kudos: 73
Collections: To Find Your Kiss: The Reylo Fanfiction Anthology's Valentine's Day Exchange





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LRRH17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LRRH17/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time participating in a Fanfiction Exchange. It certainly was a nice experience. The hardest thing was probably to choose a prompt (I might now have two other unfinished stories of different lengths sitting on my computer...).

The villagers told themselves many stores about the giant, black bear Kylo Ren living in the caves in the forest close to Theed. The lumberjacks,after they had one too many beers in Maz’s tavern, told horror stories about the creature. Older kids, while sitting around campfires told the younger ones scary stories about it hunting children. Parents told their children cautionary tales, so they wouldn’t run away. And sometimes the Elder told stories about the creature's origin. 

When Rey came to the village, after having run away from her foster father and escaped the rundown village of Jakku, she noticed the stories changed depending on who told them. Lor San Tekka said the bear had been a man who had wanted to become a monk, but one night had attacked his uncle, killed the other monks and all novices. The uncle had cursed his nephew and then had fled to be never be seen again. Draven claimed the man had been evil from birth, had made a deal with an evil wizard to obtain more power. But it had corrupted the man until he had become the creature called Kylo Ren.

Only once during the three years, Rey had now lived in Theed, she had heard a third version of the story. One evening, when Rey and her group of friends – Rose, Finn, Poe, Jannah and Kaydel – had been the only one left in Maz’s tavern, the old woman had offered another tale about its genesis. Maz wove a fable about a boy targeted by evil forces, about a family unable to protect their child in the long term, the boy growing up lonelier and lonelier, only for him finally losing this war after 23 years of fighting it, which resulted him being lost to the darkness, doomed to roam the earth for eternity in his current form.

Finn, Poe, Jannah and Kaydel were convinced that San Tekka’s was probably closest to the truth. They trusted the Elder, his knowledge and memory. While neither of the six thought Draven had the most truthful version, Rose refused to decide between San Tekka’s and Maz’s accounts, citing the long span of time between the events and today as her reason. Rey however found the most appeal in Maz’s story. She could emphasize with his struggle against forces who want to hurt you from a young age.

The only things everyone could agree on were that the giant bear had been alive for several generations – even Maz’s grandparents hadn’t been yet alive, when the creature had found its way to the caves in the forest - and that the bear was dangerous to the villagers as well as their livestock. There existed tales about fights against the monster, but it had prevailed again and again, and for last decades the villagers did their best to evade the bear and every time he came to close tired to chase him away instead of fighting him.

Most of the villagers only knew how Kylo Ren looked like from the descriptions of the lumberjacks and the men protecting the village. Neither Rey nor her friends had ever seen the creature. They all kept away from his caves and the parts of the forest where he was seen most often. 

Yet, sticking to the safer parts of the forest didn’t ensure that one would be safe. Three and a half years after her arrival in Theed, Rey and her group of friends visited the village of Otoh Gunga for their annual springtime celebration. 

This story truly begins the day after, when they were on their trek back to Theed. They had headed out of Oto Gunga after a late breakfast and had planned to arrive at their home in the afternoon. In the meantime, they had to traverse through the forest in between the two villages, but because these parts were deemed safe for travel, their guard was down. 

* * *

After a short stop for a lunch break, Poe gave the signal for their departure. He was accompanied by Finn and Jannah who led the group on their path through the forest, while Rey, Rose and Kaydel were following them, talking about everything and nothing.

No one of them had expected it, and there was no way to tell whose shriek was the loudest when an arrow hit a tree only two feet away from Rey. “Bandits,” Poe called out and the entire group began to flee, when they heard the approaching sounds of several humans running through the forest.

They didn’t really have any weapons to defend themselves. Admittedly, everyone of them had at least a knife on their body, but only Poe, Jannah and Rey had real weapons beyond that. It wasn’t enough to allow them to engage in an open fight against the unknown number of bandits chasing them. Their best means of survival would be to run faster than them.

But not even a full minute had passed, when the sounds of running humans and battle cries of the bandits were joined by a third one – an animalistic roar that froze the blood in everyone’s veins. The pursuers and pursued all immediately stopped, trying to find out the direction from which the ner noise had come. Everyone instinctively knew which creature would make such a sound. There was only one monstrosity capable of such a roar – _Kylo Ren_. 

Next, they all heard the breaking of trees and bushes from their left, and the two groups of bandits and villagers became one and together they ran away from the quickly nearing sounds of Kylo Ren. Rey cursed her bad luck of running into bandits and the bear in one day. She also realized that neither of them was fast enough to escape. Their best shot at an escape was, if someone would sacrifice themselves, and Kylo Ren would satisfy himself with eating one of them and not killing them all.

Rey grabbed the long staff hanging from her back. With a practiced swing, she lunged out without her steps faltering and hit one of the bandits running beside her. The man crashed to the ground with a pained yowl escaping him. But instead of everyone continue to run, both groups came to a halt, staring at the man with wide eyes. 

But before anyone could react, a big black mass of fur and claws jumped into their middle. It was the first time Rey saw Kylo Ren at close range, the first time she saw him at all. He overtowered even the tallest bandit. His shoulder height ended almost two feet over her head. He was as wide as a carriage and his paws bigger than the largest soup plates Rey had ever seen. 

No one dared to move while Kylo Ren’s head moved around and looked at the puny humans standing around him. Its movement ended when he looked directly at Rey. She was mesmerized by the intelligent brown eyes staring at her.

Kylo’s head had the size of an average pig, and every single of his teeth the size of the knife, Rey was carrying. The right side of his face was bisected by a large scar running from his forehead across his face and vanished somewhere beneath his neck. Rey’s head was offering her the unnecessary information that he would only need one, maybe two bites to eat Rose or Kaydel whole, maybe three for every single one of the rest of them.

After these brief moments of stillness, chaos broke out. Being chased by Kylo Ren had been immensely dangerous, but being outrun by him was unimaginable more dangerous. Without any coordination, a few of the bandits tried to attack the giant bear, while others grabbed the unarmed members of Rey’s group. 

But before one bandit could even strike at the monster, it attacked the ones who had drawn their weapons. Never before in her life, Rey had seen people fly through the air like this. Hit by the bear’s giant paws, their bodies soared through the air until they hit trees or the ground, often with disgusting cracks audible and a visible slacking of their bodies revealing their immediate deaths.

After the last of the attacking bandits had ended up in Kylo’s jaws, with no hope of ever walking the earth again, their situation ended in a stalemate again. The creature seemed to think about its next steps, deciding if it had enough or wanted even more death and destruction, while the bandits and villagers were waiting for his action.

Rose, Kaydel and Finn were each threatened by bandits who held weapons to their throats. Poe and Jannah each tried to stand in defensive position to these bandits and the bear, so their friends weren’t killed nor would they miss any aggressive movement of Kylo Ren. Rey herself was surrounded by two bandits. 

“No one having a plan how we could still make it out alive?” Poe asked through his teeth. 

Rey huffed in response. They all knew that their possibility of survival was almost inexistent. Their best bet would probably still be to run and hope that there would be a point where Kylo had enough and would relent on pursuing them. Splitting up would increase their survival chances, but Rey knew that it would very likely end up in a few of them being surely dead. She was convinced they either should try together or not at all.

During her deliberations, Rey had missed the silent conversation between the bandits. Suddenly she felt a sharp sting in her side. She looked down and saw the bandit retracting his small sword out of her hip. Rose cried out for her, but at the same moment as the bandit, that had wounded her, gave a command to his comrades, Rey’s instincts kicked in and she yelled at her friends, “Run now, that’s your only chance.”

As she had rightly guessed, Kylo instantly attacked the bandit who had used his sword. He wasn’t fast enough to run past the giant animal. As Rey sank to the ground, the giant bear blocked her sight on the others. She only heard Rose and Finn screaming for her, then Jannah’s curt voice broke through the chaos, “We have to run now, or her death will be in vain.”

Rey tried to get back on her feet, but couldn’t put any weight on her left leg. With a pained sound, she sat back down and pressed her hands on the wound to stop the bleeding. Then she remembered the bear and looked back up. Right in that moment, Kylo stepped onto the body of the second bandit who had stood next to her, killing him too.

Then it was quiet again, the only things making a sound were her pained breathing and the deep grumbling of the animal in front of her. Rey accepted that there was no way she could escape now and waited for the monster to turn to her and end it. She hoped it wouldn’t leave her alone to die. Rey feared being left alone. She knew she wouldn’t be able to move for the foreseeable time and being left here would cause her death.

Again, the intelligent eyes of the creature turned to her. Rey held her breath and waited for claws or teeth twining themselves around her body, but nothing of this happened. Keeping her eyes closes, Rey suddenly felt something cold and wet nudging her. 

She opened her eyes and found herself closer to Kylo’s muzzle than she ever had wanted to be. Flinching, she tried to scoot back, but when the bear didn’t make any attempts at moving closer, she stopped. “What do you want from me?” she asked him. And then berated herself for wanting an answer from a nonverbal animal.

But instead of any expected behavior, the bear pressed its giant mouth against her hip where the sword had pierced her. Surprised, Rey looked at Kylo. “I…,” she said, but then stocked. She laughed to herself too shocked for any other reaction, only to wince when the shaking of her body let another shot of pain soar through her body. “This wound will probably kill me in a few hours. I have nothing to sew it shut – and I can’t really ignite a fire right here to burn it. Should the impossible occur and I don’t bleed out over the next hours, then I will probably die from the infection.” Talking to herself helped Rey not to lose her mind.

The bear looked around, and then it moved. Rey waited for his goal and frowned when Kylo sank to the ground at her right side. He bent slightly toward her and nudged her with the back of his head and his neck.

“What do you want from me?” Rey wondered, dumbfounded by the monster’s behavior. From everything she knew about it, she should have been killed minutes ago, but here she was – still alive. Kylo nudged her again. 

“I don’t understand,” she told him. The bear’s head turned to her, and Rey shut her mouth when his eyes found hers again. Some people had described his eyes as red flames, devouring everything they looked at. Other’s as black voids, mirroring his evil nature. But to her, they looked like the softest brown eyes she had ever looked at. Instead of death, they spoke of vulnerability. 

Then his head turned back to its previous position, and he nudged her a third time. An idea struck Rey. “Do you want me to _climb_ on you?” she asked. As if he was answering her, the bear pressed slightly closer to her. As if he was encouraging her to follow her words.

Rey only briefly considered if it was a good idea to try to ride a monstrous bear, but then decided if Kylo wanted he would have already killed her. So Rey dug her hands into the soft fur of the bear and heaved herself on top of it under increasing pain.

When she finally sat on top of him, Rey took a few moments to regain her breath, then she leaned to his ear and said, “I’m good.” As if this was the command Kylo had waited on, he raised himself. Rey swallowed hard, when she suddenly sat 8 feet high on top of the largest creature she had ever seen.

But interestingly, she felt neither fear nor insecurity. The warm, moving flesh beneath her, the steady breathing and soft coat made her feel safe and hopeful, that maybe this day wasn’t one of her last. A ride through the forest on the back of a giant bear was an incomparable experience. Rey had always longed for being under its trees. She had always been fascinated by its greens. She had dreamed of living in it. And now she was riding through it. 

From the top of Kylo Ren, she saw the forest differently than usual. She could see birds and their nests in the trees. Instead of bushes and other large plants obstructing her view, trees and their crowns were in her eyesight.

Faster than Rey could ever have walked - especially with her wounded hip - they reached Kylo Ren's territory. And then they had arrived at the caves which the villagers were firmly avoiding, since they had become the bear's home. No other human being had seen them for decades.

A few of his giant steps in, so far that Rey was protected from everything outside the cave but not too far in, so she couldn’t see anything, Kylo stopped and lowered himself to let Rey climb off him. When she did and sat down, continuing to press her hands against the wound at her hip, she looked around the empty cave. She guessed it wasn’t his usual home, or at the least she couldn’t see any remains of food or other leavings of the bear.

Rey guessed it would take her at least twenty steps until she would reach the entry to the cave. Where she had sat down the cave had roughly the same width of twenty steps, but she couldn't see the end of it. Gladly Kylo had positioned her close the right wall of the cave.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” she told him, “but I don’t know what your goal is – I still won’t survive without a fire or sewing kit.” Rey leaned against the wall of the cave – at least this would be a slightly better resting place than the middle of a forest. Curiously, Rey felt protected and conforted by Kylo bringing her into his home.

Kylo huffed and turned around to trot out of the cave again. Confused, Rey gestured after him with one of her hands, while the other continued to press on her wound. “Yeah, okay, just leave me…” she muttered and rolled her eyes. Then Rey inspected how much she was still bleeding – it had only gotten marginally better, and she could feel her body weakening.

While the bear was outside, Rey heard wood cracking, and with a frown on her face she wondered what Kylo was doing. After a few minutes he moved back inside, and Rey finally understood. Between his teeth, the giant creature carefully carried several sticks and small branches.

“You’re helping me,” Rey exclaimed in pure wonder, as she observed Kylo putting down the sticks next to her. Then the giant creature clumsily let itself fall next to her. Rey chuckled, the ungentle movement distracting her from her dire situation, but then the pain in her hip made itself noticeable again, and she quickly prepared and lit the fire with the tinder and flint in her bag, while being observed by Kylo.

The bear laid only two feet away from her, and didn’t move once, while she waited for the fire to burn. Only when she pulled out her dagger, he lifted his head and eyed her warily. “I won’t hurt you,” Rey said to him in an intentionally soft voice. She moved her dagger to the hand that was on the other side of her and held it into the flames to heat.

“I just have to heat it, then hold it to my wound, and then I will put it away again,” she promised the bear, but instead of lying down again he held his head up and observed every single one of her moves. “I’ll just have to wait until the blade changes its color,” Rey continued to speak out loud for their mutual comfort, so Kylo could understand what she was doing, and Rey felt better for voicing her next steps out loud. It let her feel as if she was taking control over the situation.

When the blade was ready, she pulled the clothing away from the wound and pressed the hot metal against it. Hissing from the pain, it took all her concentration to continue this painful act until it got too much, and she had to let the knife fell to the ground.

Exhaling shudderingly, she examined her work and was satisfied enough that she probably wouldn’t bleed out during the night. Closing her eyes shortly to steady herself, she reached into her pack that carried all the necessary utensils for everyday life and took out the last of her provisions – it was barely enough for dinner and another breakfast.

The bear still observed Rey pottering around, without leaving her seated position against the cave’s wall. “I’m not sharing,” she told him as she returned Kylo’s gaze and demonstratively put food in her mouth. But to her relief, Kylo didn’t even try to get food from her, instead he adjusted his body slightly so it was only a few feet away from her, if she would herself fell to her left side, Rey would fall right against his chest.

Rey was glad that he seemed considerate enough to not get too close, because she still didn’t know what his long-term goal was. Right now, Kylo seemed to look after her and he had definitely saved her life, even if he had also endangered it for the short time where he had hunted her and the bandits. 

Looking back into the fire she hoped all her friends had found a safe way out of the forest. Maybe she would even get to see them again if she survived the following days and Kylo would let her go. Warming her hands close to the fire, Rey thought about the night that would set in soon. She didn’t know if the fire would burn through the entire night, and she hoped it wouldn’t get too cold during it, should it not.

Her eyes drifted to the giant animal next to her. During the ride to the cave, she had noticed the warmth that Kylo was exuding. It would definitely help her if she could sleep next to him. His body would provide shelter against the wind and at the same offer her an additional source of heat to keep her warm. But she didn’t know if Kylo would allow her to sleep so close to him.

Cautiously Rey removed her pack and all her weapons and laid them down on the other side of her, away from Kylo. Then she showed him both her empty hands and under his watchful eye, she slowly skidded closer to him. 

Rey held her breath and waited for any reaction of the being everyone had cautioned her against. Kylo had ripped people apart with ease - she had seen it with her own eyes. He had jumped into a large group of armed bandits and his violence had crushed them all. Kylo was known as a monster, as _the_ monster. 

But to her he had been outright gentle. He had provided her with everything she needed. He had in no way harmed her, but instead had done everything she asked of him. Counting on these experiences, she reached the large body and leaned cautiously against it. 

Her memory had been right, Kylo provided enough warmth to guard her safely through the still frosty nights. It wouldn’t be comfortable to sleep on the hard ground, but if she moved close to Kylo, Rey could lean most of her body against him to make her nights easier. Closing her eyes, she cherished the gentleness and care the monster had shown her. Before she realized it, she had fallen asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Rey woke up to a burned down fire. Having to orientate herself, her memories of the last day quickly came back to her. Then she noticed she wasn’t shivering but was being warmed by a soft and large furnace beside her.

Cuddling deeper in the giant bear next to her, Rey tried to sort her thoughts. Somehow the monster everyone was afraid of, the monster that was older than even the grandparents of the oldest people of her village, the monster that continuously hunted and killed people, was helping her.

Right now, she was cuddling a giant, black bear that could easily defeat a pack of wolves or a horde of bandits. She had slept next to him - almost on him - for an entire night, without being harmed. She didn’t know why this was happening to her, but she was glad that it was, because without Kylo she wouldn’t have survived the last day. 

Remembering all the tales about Kylo Ren, she realized that Maz’s story probably came the closest to the truth – all the other stories wouldn’t probably allow for her being an exception to the monster’s violence. What she still didn’t know was, if his change was permanent or only applied to her right at this moment and could change any minute?

Rey sat up and leaned her back against Kylo’s side. She didn’t know if he was already awake or still asleep because she couldn’t see his eyes from where she sat, but the bar wasn’t moving and breathed steadily.

Instead of thinking about her wondrous companion, Rey lifted her shirt to inspect her wound. Burning it had helped significantly, and had probably saved her life, but Rey knew more than a little about wounds – as the village’s herbalist and gardener, she had to know which plants helped against which ailments - and just burning it wasn't enough. 

On the one hand, she didn’t need to worry about bleeding out anymore, but on the other hand Rey knew she had to treat the burn so it wouldn’t infect. She knew which plants she needed, and she knew how to prepare them – the best would be a tea. But she had neither the ingredients nor a pot and water to brew one. 

Rey groaned, which prompted the bear beside her to shift. She quickly sat upright and then observed the giant head turning to her. Kylo blinked at her, as if he was waiting for her to explain herself. She blushed under his inquisitive stare and focused on the ground beneath her. “I don’t know if you really understand me,” she began and waited for a response, but when she looked up the creature just blinked again.

Rubbing her hands over her face, Rey groaned again. This situation was too absurd, but no one was hearing her, so she could at least try to ask Kylo for help. There was no one to judge her here, or she wouldn’t have to talk to a monstrous bear and could just ask them. “If I don’t treat the wound, it will probably infect and kill me,” she continued. 

This time she got an actual reaction from Kylo. Up on her words he let out a protective growl as if he was against the thought of her dying. “Same, buddy, same,” Rey agreed with him. “Okay – in case you’re understanding me – I need lavender and if you can find houndstongue, that would be even better. But in both cases, I'd also need a pot with water to heat.”

She waited for a few moments, for the bear to do something else than to just look at her, but got nothing. Then Kylo stood up and walked out of the cave. “I hope you understood me because I don’t know what to do if you don’t. There is no way I’ll be able to walk today or tomorrow, and by then I will probably be too sick to leave even though the wound would let me,” Rey spoke to herself. Then she began to wait and hope.

She didn’t know how long she waited, but when the bear came back, it had to be almost midday. Cheers escaped Rey when she saw what Kylo was carrying in his mouth. When he deposited the lot of lavender and houndstongue into her lap, Rey looped her arms around his head and hugged it. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kylo,” she murmured to him, “thank you so much.” Then she let go off him again, looking embarassed. "Sorry," Rey murmured, blusing fiercely.

But Kylo didn’t move his head away from her. instead he kept observing her with his brown eyes. Widely smiling, Rey pressed a kiss against his forehead. “I even forgive you for getting bear spit all over it. I can just cook it away,” she told him. 

Rey almost thought the bear had rolled his eyes at her words, but dismissed it as impossible. “Does this mean, you have a pot with water, too?” Rey asked him. But of course, she wasn’t getting any answer from the creature – it would have been so much easier if he could properly answer her, she thought to herself. But Kylo only softly nudged her head and walked out of the cave again. 

“I really hope, that means you’re going fetch one,” Rey whispered to herself. The plants weren’t really that useful if she couldn’t cook them. Quickly the shape of Kylo disappeared into the blinding light shining into the cave and Rey turned back to her plants.

“I’m sure, he will get you both – a pot and water in it. Even new wood, should you need it.” 

Rey was almost embarrassed of the surprised shriek she let out when she heard the voice. She looked up and instantly her eyes fell on a ghostly vision of a woman in fine clothes sitting opposite of her, the fireplace in between them.

“Who are you? Where did you come from? What do you want? _What_ are you?” Rey rapidly asked the questions shooting through her head, while her eyes flittered across the woman that had suddenly manifested in the cave. She wore an elaborate and expensive looking blue dress. Her hair was intricately styled, and she looked around ten years older than Rey, probably slightly above 30 years. The woman chuckled gently. “Don’t worry, you have nothing to fear from me," she promised Rey.

The words didn’t really erase all of Rey’s worries, and so she motioned the woman to continue. With a nod, she obliged her. “The best word for me is probably ghost. A longer explanation might be, that I am the shadow of a life that ended near her a long time ago. I had a brush with a dark force shortly before my death, which caused me to linger on in this form.”

Rey tried to absorb what the woman was telling her – and and tried to decide if she should believe the woman, but to be honest a ghost sitting in front of her was definitely not as fantastical as a monstrous creature suddenly behaving docile and gentle towards her, after killing several other people.

“Okay, now I know what you are. But _who_ are you?” She repeated one of her questions.

With a forlorn expression, the woman looked to the entrance of the cave. “My name is Padmé. I am Ben’s grandmother.” She sighed and turned back to the younger woman sitting in front of her. Rey guessed the woman thought her answer would suffice as an explanation to her, but Rey’s confusion had only grown. “Ben?” she asked.

A sliver of understanding hushed across the woman’s – Padmé’s – face. “The bear’s,” she said and pointed to the entrance of the cave again, where it had disappeared. Surprised, Rey opened her mouth, then closed it again, not knowing what to say.

“You’re Kylo Ren’s grandmother?” She asked for confirmation – the thought was absurd, even with everything else Rey had experienced since yesterday. Voiceless, the ghost woman formed the name Rey had just mentioned. 

“Yeah, I am,” she affirmed then, “Though his true name is Benjamin Organa-Solo. Or Ben, for the one who knew him more closely.” She sighed and looked again into the direction Kylo – _Ben?_ – had left. “Communication with him is… not easy. He can’t talk to me, and I don’t know if he always understands me. You’re lucky that you just needed simple stuff he knows or else he probably wouldn’t have been able to help you.”

Rey looked down in her lap and fiddled with her fingers. She still had so many questions, but it seems as if the most important would still remain a mystery. “I don’t understand why he helped me,” she whispered. “There are so many stories about him – about Ben." She took a fortifying breath, not sure how the woman would take the next part. "They aren’t good stories.”

A pained expression shot through the ghost’s face. “I can imagine that,” Padmé replied. “At least they don’t hunt him anymore – or they don’t do it right here. I don’t know what happens to him when he ventures farther away, but he didn’t had any major injuries for a long time now.”

“I’m from Theed, and we’re the one to have regular and the most contact with him. A long time ago, before I arrived there, it was decided to not engage him directly. It seems to work most of the times, but…” Rey let her sentence unfinished and shrugged.

“What more can you tell me about him?” She asked Padmé.

The older woman sadly shook her head. “Not that much, I’m afraid. I died before he was born, and since then I got only glimpses of his life or that of my children. My husband – Ben’s grandfather – was a nice man, a loving man, but he had his fault and formed an alliance with dark and evil forces. Since then the history of our family has been full of violence and tragedy.”

Rey seldom heard someone speak with so much pain in their voice. Padmé's anguish was almost palpable, despite her body being non-corporeal. “My children were able to achieve momentarily victory, when Anakin, my husband, returned to light right before his death. But this pocket of peace ended around the time of the birth of my grandson, of Ben. Since then these dark forces tried to get ahold of him.”

Hugging her knees to her chest, Rey felt a pang of empathy for the young boy Padmé was describing. As she, he apparently had had to face troubles and obstacles from early on in his life. Only that her fight had been firmly rooted in the ordinary world, Ben and his family had to defend themselves against magical enemies.

“But what happened then?” Rey asked. “Because he obviously hasn’t won, when he became who he is now. But I also can’t imagine that this world is a world controlled and governed by these dark forces so they can't have won, have they?” 

Rey imagined after a victory of evil, magical beings humanity would lead a much harsher life. She wouldn’t pretend that it was easy. Many people had times of struggle, but there was also much good and happiness.

“I don’t exactly know what happened,” Padmé explained. “I know his parents fought somewhere and lost. They didn’t make it back. Ben remained here with his Uncle. I didn’t see much of them and I think they didn’t see much of each other too. Ben was a lot in the library. Some day his Uncle has just disappeared and died shortly afterwards. Ben remained inside the family mansion for a few years. He looked worse and worse, and ate not enough, didn’t sleep well. And then one day, Ben was gone, and a giant bear stood outside the house.”

In the following minute of silence, Rey tried to digest everything she was told. Maz, a part of her brain noticed, apparently had the truest version of the story of Kylo Ren – Ben Solo, Rey corrected herself – and Rey was glad about everything Padmé was telling her, even if some holes in the story remained.

“How do you know it’s him?” Rey wanted to know from her. “How can you be sure that the bear is your grandson?” This was one of the most obvious things that was still unclear to Rey. It was one thing for some storytellers in Theed to tell a tale about a boy turned bear, but for Padmé to claim this tale was true and that the bear was her grandson, when the women had neither witnessed his transformation nor was the bear able to speak, was something completely different.

Thankfully, Padmé took no offence in her question and explained how she had recognized his eyes, which were apparently still the same. And as a ghost, she had this feeling that told her that it was Ben. “And thirdly his reaction when he saw me the first time, proved that he recognized me. There is no question that the bear is Ben.”

Rey decided to accept that explanation and continued to ask the woman question about Ben. Padmé told her she first became visible to other beings after Ben’s transformation. Before that, no one had been able to see her. Also, the location to which her ghost form was bound to, had shifted from the family mansion to the caves, Ben now used as a home.

When Rey wondered why he acted so violent, when there was a human being inside him, and why he didn’t try to find some form of balance and peace between him and the village, Padmé sighed. “I fear he loses his humanity more and more. If you _live_ as a bear for as long as he has, then it’s probably difficult to refuse _acting_ like a bear. I also believe that the curse, or whatever Ben was doing in his last years before the curse, has changed him so that it is more difficult for him to hold on to his humanity.”

Her explanation made much sense to Rey, and would explain the bear’s behavior towards her, but her first question still remained unanswered. What was it that had caused his shift from being a monstrous bear to care for her? But before she could try and talk with Padmé about it, the older woman said that she felt that her time was over and after saying farewell to each other, she was alone again.

Rey guessed Padmé had kept her company for about an hour, maybe slightly shorter. Already missing her presence she waited for Ben to come back. She hoped the bear wouldn’t take too long because Reycould feel her strength dwindling. To pass the time she worked on lighting another fire.

But it took only a little longer, and Rey finally heard the now familiar sounds of Ben arriving. As the bear entered the cave and she saw the pot with water hanging from his snout, Rey broke out in tears of gratitude. When she noticed the sudden panic of Ben as he rushed to her side while alos trying not to spill any water, she began to laugh. It got even worse when he made himself as small as possible, lying down in front of her – while still being much taller than her - staring at her with worry in his eyes. 

“I’m good. I’m good,” she reassured him and relieved she leaned against his head, taking as much comfort from him as possible. Rey looked at the reignited fire and while she waited for it to grow, she began to talk to Ben.

“Your grandmother visited me. Padmé?” By force of habit she waited for a reaction, before realizing again she wouldn't get any. “I always forget that you can’t talk,” she muttered to herself. When the fire had grown enough, she put the pot of water on it, after drinking several gulps of it. “Needed that,” Rey moaned and from the corner of her eyes she saw Ben's ears twitching.

She turned to the creature still lying next to her. “Ben?” she asked, “I’m going to call you Ben, okay?” Taking the huff, he let out as an affirmative reaction, she made a gesture of eating with her hand and mouth. “Do you think, you could bring me something to eat? If not, I could still survive without it, but I’m really, really hungry…” Rey let her voice fade out. Her insecurity coming back fully. “I know that you already have done so much, and if you’re not able or don’t want to, that’s okay, but maybe…” Again, she let the words hang in the air.

Rey forced herself not to move when Ben raised himself. Rey closed her eyes when his head came closer to hers. Despite his helpful behavior and him seemingly wanting to take care of her, she still worried that the Kylo Ren of the stories would reappear – in the end the bear was still infamous for his violence even despite everything he had done for her and even though what Padmé had told her. Or maybe, Ben would finally get enough of her neediness. Rey didn't know if he had anything else to do, but she guessed Ben probably didn't plan on attending to her for entire days.

However Ben just softly and encouraging nudged her head with his and then turned around and left the cave. Rey didn’t need to wait long until he came back, carrying two rabbits into the cave. Under his watchful eyes, Rey prepared one of them with her dagger, the other one she pushed back to Ben. 

It was a strange feeling to cook and prepare the houndstongue plant, while being observed by a giant bear. Rey tried to distract herself from it by telling Ben about herself and her life. She told him how she had run away from Jakku. How lonely she had been when she had first arrived in Theed. She told him how she had found new friends, but then they began to marry and settle, and while she still was part of their group and her life was much better than before, she wanted to create her own family, too. But she hadn’t yet found the right person to do that with.

When she ate the rabbit Ben had brought her, he joined her, quickly devouring his own. A strong feeling of fondness overcame her when she realized he had waited for her and had wanted to eat together with her.

Not long after she had finished, she felt weighed down with weariness. Ben, seemingly noticing it, moved slightly closer to and Rey rolled herself into a fetal position and pressed her body closely against the comforting and warming skin of the giant creature. Feeling safe and sheltered, she quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up next to Ben swiftly became her favorite way of starting the day. The same creature that had fearlessly jumped into a large group of bandits and had defeated them with no visible exertion, the same creature that had lived for over a dozen decades and infamous for its violence and dangerousness, had saved her, cared for, and behaved more like a giant teddy bear than a deadly monstrosity.

It was an exhilarating feeling to have a creature like him, behaving in such a gentle manner toward her. Seeing these dangerous teeth carrying sticks, plants, and other utensils for her. Feeling these muscles that were capable of almost unimaginable violence, carrying her to safety. Having this beast, known to everyone else as a monstrous being right out of the darkest nightmares, cuddle up to her during the night to offer her warmth and safety. It filled her heart with warmth and comfort.

After Rey had checked her body on its progress on healing and made a few testing steps, Ben began to stir. She saw him slowly leaving the depths of his sleep and arriving in the world of the living. It had quickly become a routine to speak out loud to Ben, so she wouldn’t feel as alone as she could be, and so Rey informed him about the wound in her side and its status.

“I think I need one or two days until I can make the trek to the village,” she explained to him, “I don’t know if or how far you would carry me, but I have to make the last part myself. I know you shouldn’t come to close to the village. I don't want them to hurt you or you hurting them.”

Talking about her imminent leave of this small, but safe bubble, they had created filled Rey with sorrow. She noticed she didn’t want to leave Ben and his cave. The giant bear had grown close to her heart. 

During her talking to him and the following thoughts, his eyes had never left her face and intently stared at her. Rey felt like she could see the same sorrow that resided in her own heart shine in his eyes – even if a small part of her brain tried to determine if a bear even could portray such human emotions.

Then Ben suddenly rose to his feet. An intense feeling shot through Rey, but with no little gladness, she noticed it was neither fear nor any other unpleasant emotions that would prove to her she was still wary of her companion. Instead, it was pure awe at the magnificence that Ben was.

He made a few steps toward her and lowered himself in a similar manner to the moment in the forest after he had killed the bandits. First Rey regarded him confused, not sure what his plan was, but then she shrugged and decided to trust him and pulled herself on top of his enormous body.

Ben carried her outside of the cave and began to walk into a direction of the forest she had never visited. It was a part of his territory, that was closer to Theed, if her sense of direction wasn’t deceiving her, but Rey was also almost completely sure, that no one of Theed had dared to explore that part of the forest for a long time. It had never been of grand importance to people and the surviving of Theed.

For a few minutes, they traveled in silence until Rey felt the urge to talk to Ben again. “You know, Ben, I think I have talked more in your presence, than I have in that of another being for a long time – maybe ever.”

She reminisced on that confession for some time. Rey liked her friends in Theed. They had welcomed her after fleeing from Jakku. They had helper her. But even though neither of them had a completely carefree live, she often felt like they couldn’t understand her. 

Rey had upheld many of her walls. Rose and Finn had conquered some of them, and other she had willingly surrendered, but there was a secret part of her that longed. A part of her that knew she hadn’t reached the end of her journey. With her friends she had come farther than any time before, but that hidden part of her that was still searching, had only become silent after Ben had carried her into his cave.

Somehow a man turned animal had offered her something she hadn’t found until now. 

“What will we do, when I have healed?” Rey interrupted the companionable silence that had spread between them. “I know I have to go back to Theed, but what will become of us?” Ben turned his head to her and his brown eyes looked at her. Even though he couldn’t say a single word, Rey found assurance in them. As if he was saying to her. _Don’t worry, I feel it too._

Rey buried her hand into his fur and let herself fall forward to align her body completely with his, while he carried her to his destination. She thought she felt a quick tremor running through him but dismissed it after letting the comfort of his presence soothe her. 

“I like Theed,” she continued to explain to him, “I like my friends, but there is this hole inside of me. This hole, that I have wanted to fill for a long time, but I never knew how. And I’m just now realizing that it has slowly begun to fill itself.” Rey sighed and hid her face against Ben’s body.

Quietly, she continued to whisper to him. “I love green. The color, but also everything that is green. Plants and flowers. Trees and their leaves. I have a garden in Theed with herbs and things like this. Theed became my home because it was so close to the forest. After living in Jakku, in this godforsaken desert, I was so overwhelmed by all this green.”

Rey had to stop talking as tears pooled in her eyes. Sitting upright again, she let her hands move against the leaves and small branches she could reach from Ben’s back. “But living in this forest – even for this short time only. It’s so different. So much more.”

It took a few moments for Rey to gain the strength for her following words. 

“I don’t want to leave, Ben, but I don’t know how to stay.”

This was one of the moments where Rey wished the most that Ben would be able to answer her. To talk to her in more than animalistic huffs or simplistic body language. Even though her knowledge about him had multiplied immensely, she still had no clue of his motivations. She desperately wanted t know his opinions and feelings, wanted to know what he thoought of her.

In two days, she would probably be strong enough to make the walk back to Theed on her own. If he would carry her for most of the way, she could even leave earlier than that. But she didn’t know for sure if he would do that for her. And there was still the lingering possibility that he wouldn’t let her leave. Ben had the power to do that – even in full possession of her power, he could easily overwhelm her. (And if a small part of Rey’s mind was more than okay, with Ben keeping her with him, then that was only for her to know.)

Rey was brought out of her thoughts when Ben suddenly stopped walking. “What?” she asked him, but he only looked at her in reply and then forward again. “What do you want me to see, Ben,” she wondered out loud?

There were only trees in front of them. Rey tried to crouch down slightly on his back to peer below the treetops. But then her eyes slowly made out something that didn’t seem to be part of the forest, a wall or fence of some kind. It was the same color as the trunks and branches of the surrounding trees, so it wasn’t easily discernible, but Rey was sure that some kind of building stood several yards away. 

Rey had never heard of any building in this part of the forest, so it was either fairly unknown or ancient – probably both, if it was built inside of Ben’s territory. No one would have been able to build something here when he was guarding this area.

Slowly Ben carried her forward and Rey could finally see the building in its entirety – well, the part of it that was visible from where they stood. The building was a giant mansion, standing in the middle of a thick forest.

Her eyes wandered slowly over walls and windows. The building certainly wasn’t in its best condition, but she had seen far worse states. She guessed the materials were from the utmost quality – and paired with the protection Ben offered, no one would have dared to even come close to it. Then it fell like scales from her eyes, what Ben must be showing her.

The family mansion Padmé had spoken of.

“This is your home,” Rey mumbled, and Ben huffed in reply - the now familiar sign of his affirmation. He slowly carried her closer. There was a fence guarding the premises. The building itself was surrounded by a few dozen yards of meadow overgrown with all sorts of plants, flowers, and weeds. 

The gate to the property was unlocked, and wide enough so Ben could comfortably enter it. As he walked across the pathway leading to the house, Rey took in all of its beauty. She could see entire futures play in out front of her imaginary eye.

A restored mansion with a cultivated but slightly chaotic and natural greenfield around it. Children running across it and her friends watching them while talking to each other. Rey then saw herself standing slightly to the side, watching everything with a content expression on her face. She noticed small wrinkles on her imaginary self's face, that she was sure weren’t gracing it yet.

Her imaginary self unlocked their gaze from the scene playing out in front of them, and instead locked directly at Ben and Rey, causing her real self to gasp and hold tightly onto the bear beneath her. Rey knew the scene was mostly happening in her head, and that there would be no way she should be able to hear the woman speak - not only because she wasn't real - because she stood much too far away.

But it was as if she was speaking right inside Rey’s head – which in hindsight made sense, because it was the same mind that had conjured her. “The belonging you seek is not behind you… it is ahead.” Rey couldn’t do anything else than to stare at herself. She followed her imaginary’s eyes falling down to the creature carrying Rey. Sorrow and grief so deeply ingrained in that look, that Rey could see it even through the distance of space and imagination. “Don’t let go of him,” were the last words she heard before the scene vanished.

She couldn’t stop the tears flowing from her eyes, while Ben carried her to the entrance of the mansion. The doors stood slightly ajar, and Ben was able to cautiously push them open to step into the house.

The room that opened itself up to her was big enough that Ben could comfortably move through it. But neither looked the stairs stable enough, nor were the doors leading from the room big enough for the two of them to venture further into the building.

So Rey sufficed with exploring the things she could see from the entrance hall, and the brief insights she gained into the rooms next to it. At the top of the staircase leading to the next floor hang a big painting, from where a young man looked over the entrance hall, as if he was welcoming everyone entering the home and at the same time guarding it from unsavory guests.

It was a beautiful painting, showing the young man’s entire body as he stood next to a bookshelf full of old books and a window showing a forest lying beyond it. The man seemed to be rather tall and wide, but the most remarkable part of him was his face. Rey was mesmerized by it. 

Never before had she seen a face that portrayed such regalness but at the same time shone full of gentleness and comfort. Every single one of his features worked perfectly together, from the plush mouth with pink lips to the nose sitting in the middle of his face as if it was a throne to the moles forming constellation on his face, that Rey longed to connect with her fingers.

But only when she looked at his eyes, she knew for sure at whom she was looking. The same eyes had accompanied her for the last days. “Ben…” was the quiet exhale that involuntarily escaped her mouth, and Ben huffed in a similar manner to confirm her guess.

“Thank you for showing me this,” Rey thanked him and began to stroke him with both her hands to express the gratitude she felt, that he was opening up to her as much as was possible for him, causing a swift tremble to run through his body. During their way back, she continued to enjoy the feeling of his relaxed body under her wandering and comforting hands.

* * *

On her third morning of waking up in Ben’s cave, Rey noticed that their position had significantly shifted during the night. Instead of simply sleeping next to the bear, cuddled against his warming fur, Ben had almost completely curled around her. His protective posture caused a satisfied grin to appear on Rey’s face. 

Their last day had certainly intensified their relationship from a tentative alliance and cautiously caring for each other to a more intimate connection growing between them. Rey more and more felt like she was able to understand his animal reactions to her words, where before she couldn’t really assess if he had understood her and what his answer was.

Rey crawled closer to his head that now almost laid beside her, when it before had been further away. She gave him a kiss on his giant forehead before she gently tried to wake him. Slowly, one of his eyes opened and stared at her. Rey thought it looked slightly indignant. She giggled and leaned against Ben’s head. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” she greeted him.

He huffed in response and lightly shove her with a brief push of his head. “Hey,” Rey complained to him and admonish him with a playful slap against his large side, but Ben just closed his eyes again. Still smiling, Rey wanted to lean back against the creature she had become so fond of, when his eyes suddenly shot open again.

“What is going on, Ben?” Rey asked him nervously. She easily picked up his unease and frowned because she couldn’t see what had caused it. The giant bear quickly stood up and looked to the entrance of the cave, fletching his teeth, and letting out a deep growl.

“What is out there,” Rey questioned again, ignoring that Ben would never give her a real answer to that question. He turned back to her and pressed his head against her chest. Confused, Rey stroke over his head. “What do you want me to do,” she wondered, but he just continued to push cautiously but firm against her. 

Rey, trying to guess the answer to her own question, moved back against the wall of the cave and she must have been at least slightly right, because Ben separated his head from her again, but didn’t move away from her. 

“You want me to stay here?” she again tried to understand his wordless communication. Ben huffed once and then turned away. From his behavior during the last days, Rey surmised that this was his affirmative reply, so she decided to wait for the moment, but intentionally made no promise to Ben of staying where he wanted her to be.

She looked to the animal that had become so close to her. Ben stood right at the border of the shadow at the entrance to the cave, so that whoever entered the clearing in front of it wouldn’t instantly see the creature.

Then finally she heard the sounds from the forest, which must have alerted Ben. It didn’t sound like an animal making its way towards them. It would have been a big surprise to Rey if anything had the courage to venture into Ben’s territory. He was by far the most dangerous and largest being in the forest.

After almost a minute, Rey realized what made the sounds she was hearing. A large group of people was making their way through the forest. It was common knowledge that the ‘monster Kylo’ had exceptional hearing and sense of smell, therefore the arriving troop must be focusing on being alert and safe than on being stealthy.

Rey wondered who would have the gall to confront Ben. The village mostly impacted by his roaming was Theed and they should be too smart to try fighting Ben. The damage caused by that fight would be too high, even if they would win – which was improbable.

The sounds of movement stopped, and Rey guessed the unknown group had finally arrived in front of the cave. She could still hear the muttering of people, but couldn’t make out single words. From the place where she was sitting, she only saw Ben still standing at the same spot and the light shining onto the clearing hindered her sight of what was going on outside of the cave.

Then a voice yelled across the clearing, clearly audible inside the cave. “Kylo Ren – the people of Theed have come to challenge you. No longer shall you steal our animals, endanger our lives, and terrify our children. After today, Theed will be in peace, either because you’re dead… or the people of Theed are no more.”

Shocked, Rey took a deep breath. She knew that voice. She knew it and she cursed her knowledge and curse the owner of the voice and all the people currently with him. Why did Poe think he had to challenge a being that had been around for so long? Why did the villagers of Theed accompany him on this crazy mission?

Rey knew she had to prevent the upcoming fight. It didn’t matter if she would succeed, she at least had to _try_. There was no way she would let harm come to Ben. He didn’t deserve it. Living a cursed life as a bear, he shouldn’t have to fight and endanger that life, because the people of Theed had finally decided they wanted to end his existence.

Cautiously, she stood up. Gladly, Ben was focused on the people outside of the cave, so he didn’t acknowledge her movement behind him. Quietly taking one step after the other, she finally could see the gathering of people on the border of the small clearing. 

She knew everyone who had come here. She could see Rose, Finn, Jannah, and Kaydel and so many more. Knowing this, she felt an even greater urge to prevent any fighting between Ben and her friends. Rey didn’t want Ben to have to kill her friends in self-defense, and she definitely didn’t want them to kill him. Rey didn’t know if she could ever forgive any of her friends in that case.

Answering Poe’s challenge, Ben let out a fierce roar and stepped outside of the cave. Rey had quickly become familiar with the bear’s behavior and when Ben stepped on a small bush, instantly crushing it, causing the villagers to flinch back, she quickly rolled her eyes because of his theatrics.

“You will pay for what you did to our ancestors. You will pay for what you did to us. And you will pay for what you did to Rey!” Poe reissued his challenge and Rey realized that this might be her only chance to prevent what surely would follow next, the destruction of people - one in the body of a bear - she loved and cared deeply for.

Taking all her strength, Rey stumbled out of the cave, trying to not burden the weaker side of her body. “I won’t let you hurt him,” she called out to her friends and the rest of the villagers. None of them answerig Rey, because they were too busy open-mouthedly staring at her making her way slowly in front of Ben.

“Step aside, you’re obviously wounded. We don’t want to hurt you, but we will if you are in our way,” Poe told her. Rey opened her mouth, only to close it again without speaking. That hadn’t been the reaction she had expected.

Rey had no idea how she looked like to the villagers, having lived beside a bear for several days, without washing, without a change of clothes, the blood of her wound still visible on them, a demonic bear standing protectively behind her. She appeared less like a villager, less like one of them, and more like a wild forest goddess.

Then a growl resonated from above her. Rey looked up and saw that Ben’s head was now right above her. She was practically fenced in by his enormous legs and body. A surge of affection poured through Rey at Ben’s protectiveness.

“Rey?” she heard the sudden confused exclamations of her some of her friends only now recognizing her. As if they were one person, her and Ben’s head whipped around to the ones who had spoken – the only difference being that Rey looked more surprised and Ben was growling. 

With one hand, Rey reached up to slightly stroking the underside of his head. “Don’t,” she told him and to everyone’s astonishment the bear instantly quiet down but kept his protective stance. Now Rey turned back to her friends. “Hello Finn,” she nodded at her friend. “Rose, Jannah,” she greeted the others who she could see.

“What is happening here, Rey?” Finn asked her, taking a step forward, “What happened to _you_?” At Finn’s movement, Ben threateningly lowered his head, which in turn caused the villagers to ready their weapons again. 

“Put your damn weapons away,” Rey angrily told her former fellow villagers again, and she stared each of them down until they all pointed their weapons away again, but no one of them stopped warily observing the bear only waiting for him to attack.

When she was satisfied, Rey began to answer Finn. She told him how Ben had saved her and helped her. During her explanations, Ben had eased his threatening stance slightly. He kept his attendance and alertness, but at least the bear didn’t seem to be only seconds away from tearing into the crowd of villagers before them.

Rey talked about her conversation with Padmé and the mansion hidden in the forest Ben had shown her. During her long speech, the wound at her hip throbbed again, and she leaned against one of Ben’s legs for support, earning raised eyebrows from some of the people looking at her.

When she finished, a minute of silence hang above everyone – only disrupted by some of the villagers quietly talking to each other. They all had to digest the story Rey had just told them. Finally it was Poe who spoke first.

“And what action do you propose we take, Rey?” he asked her, and she could hear the frustration and exasperation in his voice. “He is still a giant and very dangerous bear – and if he is cursed, he might lose the last sliver of humanity, the last bit of control he might still have. What happens then, Rey? What happens when he becomes an even bigger menace to us, then he already is? What happens when he targets our children, instead of our livestock? What happens when he increases the part of the forest, he understands as his territory?”

Poe waited for her answer, but Rey didn’t give him one. With tears in her eyes, she clutched her hand into Ben’s leg. Sensing her inner turmoil, Ben moved slightly back to bring down his head next to her and thankfully Rey let go of his leg to seek more comfort from holding onto his head, staring into his intelligent and soulful eyes.

“Rey, we now have the chance to finally end this danger – for our sake, for the sake of our village, for the sake of our children and their children,” Poe tried to convince her again. “Do you really want to choose him over us, over your friends and neighbors?”

Thoughts were racing through Rey’s head. All the different parts of her tugging her into different directions. Her mind told her she should listen to Poe’s arguments. She had known Ben only for a few days. She knew about the uncountable years of violence and death that had been Ben’s legacy. She had seen him in action. 

Her heart was split between the growing, deep connection she felt to Ben and her established relationships to her friends in Theed. But she remembered all the moments of waking up beside him, which had been incomparable to everything she had felt or experienced before. She remembered the care he had taken of her, without ever judging her or appearing frustrated. And finally, she remembered the walk they had taken yesterday, the feeling of comfort and safety, of belonging she had felt with him.

Yes, she was fond of her friends. She liked them and maybe even loved them. Rey wished them only happiness. But her heart’s feelings toward Ben were on a whole other level. It soared when she spent time with him. It fluttered when she locked her eyes with his. It filled her entire being with warmth when they cuddled up next to each other.

It was Rey’s soul that finally tipped the balance. Being with Ben had felt more right than she ever felt before. As if her wandering and seeking soul had at last found the place where it belonged. She felt completed standing next to him in this forest, something she never had while living amidst her friends in the village - as if all the things she had ever wanted could become true. 

“Rey?” Finn cautiously implored after Rey hadn’t answered for some time. Her gaze locked onto her animal companion for the entire time. “I…,” she began, but then stopped, frowning. Not sure how to put her emotions into words. “I think I love him,” Rey stated quietly. 

A shocked gasp shot through the group of villagers, staring at her with wide eyes. But it was the sound Ben had made to which Rey reacted. A croak, she had never heard of him before. A sound much too human for the animal. A sound holding pain, surprise, and relief at the same time.

Suddenly Rey’s hand fell from its place on his head when Ben’s entire body contracted into itself. “Ben!” she exclaimed, worry raging through her body. She didn’t know what was happening. The first thought was that one villager had attacked him. But what was happening had no ordinary cause, Rey realized. Light was breaking out from within Ben, as his entire form got smaller and smaller. And then a bright flash forced them all to close their eyes, and when Rey opened them again, she stared open-mouthed at the place where her giant bear had stood.

Almost right next to her, a different body was kneeling on the ground. Rey’s eyes took in the being now existing in Ben’s stead. Her mind tried to keep pace with what she was seeing. It was a human – a man, Rey thought. A large human, with black hair and only wearing black fur pants – Rey had taken a second look to make sure if they were really pants or if it was hair coating the man’s legs.

When the man lifted his head and looked at Rey, she took an involuntary step toward him. She saw his brown eyes, easily recognizing them after having looked at them often during the last days. Then her eyes wandered over his aquiline nose sitting enthroned in the middle of his face, down to his plush pink lips, following the edges of his face to his black hair almost fully covering his ears to his forehead and then back down to his eyes, the right one emphasized by a scar running from his forehead across his entire face down to his naked chest. She knew this face; she had seen it yesterday – and who else could have turned from bear to man.

“ _Ben_ ,” she gasped.

His sharp eyes were piercing hers, and overcome with a sudden swell of deeply felt emotions, Rey had to divert her eyes. Looking down, her eyes stopped their sudden movement as her brain realized another fact. The man in front of her was shirtless. His giant, muscular chest on wide display. It didn't have the sharp edges of singular muscles pushing through the skin forming the packs of muscles, she had seen on several men and some women in the village. Ben’s chest was perfectly planar and firm. It had a wholeness in which one could drown themselves.

Overcome with sudden longing for his embrace, she charged forward and sank into his arms, which instinctively closed themselves around her, holding her close to him. For a few moments she relished the feeling of being held, before she steadied and untucked herself from his embrace again, realizing what she had done. Taking only the smallest step back, and with a deep blush on her face, Rey took one of Ben’s hands and pulled him up. 

_Big, large man_ , her brain informed her when Ben stood next to her several inches taller than Rey. She guessed she should have expected this based on the giganticness of the bear. Biting her lower lip, after letting her eyes traveling across his body one more time, she turned back to the villagers, after remembering that they weren’t alone in the forest.

They both looked into similar shocked expressions all the inhabitants of Theed were wearing on their faces. Rose was the first one who recovered her wits. “Rey? What just happened?” She asked tentatively.

Helpless Rey looked from Rose to Ben and back to Rose again. “I… uhm… I think the curse is broken,” she winced and shrugged, not knowing what to say or how to explain it. Her focus had less been on the why and what, and more on the fact that it happened. 

“May I?” A deep voice asked right next to her. Rey’s eyes widened as she realized it had been Ben and _his_ voice. Her blush deepening anew, she gave him a small nod as an answer, not trusting the strength of her voice right now.

“Citizens of Theed,” Ben greeted the crowd, his voice easily dominating their surroundings. Then he turned to the woman next to him, “Rey,” causing a giddy grin appearing on her face. “My name is Ben Organa-Solo, last heir of Alderaan and Naboo, grandson of Queen Breha and her consort Bail Organa, of Queen Padmé Amidala Naberrie and her husband, knight and General Anakin Skywalker. My parents were Princess and General Leia Organa and the... Merchant and General Han Solo.”

He took a breath to continue his address to the crowd of people in front of him, but was interrupted by Poe. “You do realize that all these people are long dead and part of tales, right?” The man asked him. Ben acknowledged his objection with a nod before continuing his speech.

“My grandfather Anakin gave in to dark forces, long before I was born. In the end, he turned back to his light and ended the war my parents had fought in. But since then, a shadow weighed down on our family. Since birth, the same dark forces had tried to get a hold of me. It took them over 20 years before I stood alone in front of them and lost. I was cursed. We all have our dark sides in us, but mine manifested itself in a corporeal manner and I took the form of the bear you are all familiar with. I was forced to exist as the monster these dark forces wanted me to be.” 

Listening to his words, Rey had taken Ben’s right hand into hers to give him comfort and strength while he explained his situation to people of Theed. She marveled at the dwarfing size of his hand compared to hers, but listened intently to his words, which finally gave her almost every missing puzzle piece to the mystery Kylo Ren and Ben Solo had been.

Muttering resonated again from the crowd, obviously unsure on how to handle the situation. Then Rose asked the question, that was now also on the tip of Rey’s tongue. “Assuming all this means the curse now ended,” she gestured at Ben’s transformed body, “what was the cause for its end?”

Expectantly Rey stared at Ben, waiting for his answer. But before he gave his reply, he turned to her, his free hand coming up to her face and cradling it. Softly Rey leaned her head against it, relishing that small gesture. “It was you,” Ben answered Rose’s question by speaking to Rey. “You ended my curse. Despite my monstrous appearance, you were able to love me.” 

Tears welled in Rey’s eyes. “I meant it, Ben. I truly meant it,” she whispered to him, “I can’t explain it, but I feel it. I really feel it.” Then Ben pulled Rey into his body, keeping her steady with his arms, while clung onto him, quietly sobbing into his chest. “I feel it, too,” Ben promised her, pressing a kiss to her hair.

“Sorry to interrupt your little moment there, but what happens now?” Poe’s voice broke through the bubble the two lovers had created around them. The unease of the villagers was almost palpable, everyone uneasily shifting around. They had come to slay a bear, to take revenge for all the livestock it had stolen, for the people it had hurt – even if the villagers had been spared for a long time, the pain, hurt and loss still existed in their tales of Kylo Ren –, and they had especially come for Rey, who they all had thought of as dead.

“Who now answers for the thefts, deaths, and crimes of Kylo Ren?” Poe asked every and no one.

With a heavy heart, Rey distanced herself from Ben’s embrace. She wouldn’t let anyone jeopardize the home she had found during the last days. In a protective stance, she stood between her love and the people that may threaten him.

Rey saw Finn and Rose exchanging a look and a few words. Then the man stepped forward and spoke up. “The _bear_ Kylo Ren has eaten our animals and killed many of our ancestors. So, the bear Kylo Ren should be the one to answer, as had been our plan.”

Rose moved next to Finn, but spoke mostly to the people around her. “I don’t see any bear here. We came here to eliminate the threat the bear posed, and the bear is no more, so our duty is done.” She looked at Rey and threw a quick wink in her direction.

No one was objecting the two statements, and so Poe sighed and nodded. “Okay, if noone disagrees, then I think we should go back.” He motioned for the first people to begin their way back to Theed. “Come on, let’s go.”

When the first villagers disappeared between the trees, Poe waited for Rose, Finn, Rey, and probably Ben to follow him, but Rey slightly shook her head. “Poe, we will follow in a couple of minutes. You can go ahead, we know the way,” Rose told him and with a shrug Poe followed her order.

Rose and Finn joined Rey and Ben, so they could talk comfortably with each other without having to raise their voices. Rose shortly looked at Ben’s naked chest and then at Rey and smirked, which caused Rey to roll with her eyes, but she was thankful for the easing of tension the small moment achieved.

“You’re not coming with us, are you?” Even though Rose shaped her sentence into a question, it was more a statement that she had already accepted. Rey was glad that Rose seemed to understand her situation and Finn seemingly being on board, too.

“If Ben allows me stay, I would like that very much,” she answered, casting a quick glance to the tall man next to her. Rey was sure of her feelings, but she quickly realized that she had never really spoken to Ben about them. After all, most of the time they had been together, he had been a bear.

But her doubts were easily dispelled when the man occupying her thoughts stepped closer to her and pulled her against his side. Pressing another kiss on top of her head, Ben said, “It would make me the happiest man alive, if you would want to stay with me.”

Unable to contain her smile, she turned to face him. Seeing the happiness shining on his face, let butterflies erupt in Rey’s stomach. Rose and Finn shared a secret smile at the sight of their overly happy friend – not that they had ever imagined that it would be a formerly cursed prince who would capture Rey’s heart, but the devoted look on Ben’s face gave them confidence that he would be good for Rey.

“We don’t want to take too much of your time,” Finn told them, “but where will you be staying – here in that cave?” he pointed to the dark entrance, where Rey had spent the last days, wary expression on his face imagining the discomfort the dwelling probably provided.

Ben shook his head. “My family had a mansion not far from here and closer to Theed. It needs some work, but it will offer better shelter than where I chose to live for the last decades.” Rey agreed with his assessment. “We visited it yesterday,” she confirmed, “It’s really beautiful – and you’re of course invited to visit us.”

Quickly looking at Ben, if her impromptu invitation was okay, Rey continued to lay out some rough outline for the following days and weeks. They would have to visit Theed several times to get her things and organize their life in Ben’s family home. After making their plans together, Finn and Rose left with the promise that Rey would keep contact with all of them, and Ben assured them he would love to get to know all the people in Rey’s life.

When they were finally alone, Ben and Rey stood in front of each other, only a hand’s width of air between. Rey’s heart was beating quickly inside her chest. She desperately wanted to kiss Ben, but didn’t know if it was okay for her to do so.

Ben sensed her doubts and questions, and he took one of her hands and pressed it flat against his chest, right above his heart. “Don’t worry, Rey,“ he told her and leaned his forehead against hers. She felt the same fast beating heart inside his chest. It’s pace even quickening when Rey moved her body flush against his.

She moved her mouth closer to his. Breathing the same air, she slowly caressed his lips with hers, causing Ben to exhale a shuddering breath. Then he broke the tension between and pressed his lips firmly against hers, eliciting a moan from Rey’s mouth at the delicious feeling.

After a few minutes of slowly kissing each other, they broke the mutual exploring of the other’s body and mouth. “Ready to go?” Ben asked her, and Rey gave him a firm nod. He took her hand as he moved into the direction of their new home, when Rey suddenly remembered the time it had taken them yesterday to arrive there.

She realized that she would have to walk the distance by herself this time. “Ben…” With questioning eyes, Ben turned to her, hearing her reluctant voice. “What is it?” he asked her, and Rey put her free hand on the healing wound on her hip.

“I don’t know if I will be able to make the walk to the house, yet,” Rey explained her hesitation. Understanding shone in Ben’s eyes, then mirth joined it. „You know, I think we don’t have to do this on foot,” he told her.

Not comprehending what he alluded to, Rey tilted her head and waited for further clarification of his mysterious assessment. “You ended the curse,” Ben continued, “but I think Kylo - the bear - isn’t entirely gone. My family always had a connection to the magical – well at least the Skywalker line had it. Trust me?” He asked her.

Rey nodded, even though she wasn’t completely sure what Ben’s plan was. She wasn’t sure if he really meant that he could somehow shift back to the bear. But if his explanations were right after the curse had been broken, then the bear was a manifestation of the darkness inside him, and if the bear had already been part of him, and Ben had just been forced into its shape and had been reduced to it, then this part should still exist and should be able to be called upon.

When her thought process came to a close, Ben took a deep breath. Again the light began to shine from inside his body, and as it stretched, Rey stepped back to make room for his growing body – and finally the familiar black bear stood in front of her. 

Rey laughed out loud. She could hardly believe her luck. Not only would she be able to spent time with Ben as the man he was and do all the things you could only do with other humans, but apparently she hadn’t lost the Ben, with whom she had spent the last few days, with whom she had become close, who had protected her in the night, carried her through the forest and who had provided her with everything she needed.

Still laughing, she clasped his head in her arms and gave him a kiss right between his eyes, in return Ben quickly pressed his cold nose against her cheek, causing Rey to laugh even more. In their already practiced move, Ben lowered himself and Rey climbed onto his back. 

On his back, it didn’t take long until they stood in front of the giant mansion again, when Rey cautiously slipped down from Ben’s back, and he went through the process of the transformation until he stood next to her in his human form – still only clothed in pants.

Ben stepped to an overgrown stone next to the mansion’s entrance. With his hands he removed all the plants, so letters became visible. “Varykino,” Ben read, and with a smile on her face Rey looped her arm around his waist. “Home,” she said. With a fond expression, Ben reciprocated her gaze. When Rey rose to her tiptoes, his face already lowered himself toward her. Their mouths easily finding each other, sharing a kiss, promising each other more following later.

Stepping into the familiar entrance hall, Rey pointed to the hearth in the room to their right. “I think we should set up camp in there for tonight, and tomorrow we can get the first things we need from my place in Theed. Then we can begin to build our home here.”

They walked into the room Rey had pointed out. “It probably won’t be that warm in here tonight, even with igniting a fire,” Ben warned her, pointing to a broken window. 

“We can search for wood later,” Rey told Ben, straddling his legs, her hands splayed on his still naked chest. “Yes, later,” were the only words Ben was capable of speaking before Rey’s mouth descended on his own.

Neither of them felt the urge to hurry, both knowing they had more than enough time. They had an entire life to spend together. The soft monster boy and the protective young maiden wouldn't let anyone come between them, their love and happy ending.


End file.
